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Yosemite rescue caught on video

By: The Associated Press

June 10, 2014Updated: June 10, 2014 at 3:55 pm

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Caption +In this May 28, 2014 still image from video provided by the National Park Service, a backpacker who narrowly avoided plunging to his death from a gorge at the bottom of Upper Yosemite Fall at Yosemite National Park, Calif., is hoisted to safety by a helicopter rescue crew. (AP Photo/National Park Service)

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Park officials say a backpacker who narrowly avoided plunging to his death from a waterfall at Yosemite National Park was hoisted to safety by a helicopter rescue crew in an operation that was captured on video.

Video footage of the May 28 rescue shows the helicopter hovering over a gorge at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall. The video was released last week.

The backpacker is on a boulder that park officials say he was able to scramble onto after slipping and falling into the rapids.

A rescuer who was lowered down to the boulder is seen attaching a line. He and the backpacker are then hoisted up.

The backpacker was treated for hypothermia. Park officials say he would have died if he had not been able to get onto the boulder.